Premise: Sekhmet
by ScheduledforDeletion
Summary: A young girl is kidnapped from her fathers excavation site by a council who wish to please the Gods by any means necessary. * mostly pieces of Eden rather than Assassins creed characters, more the ones who came before as well* Reviews would be most appreciated :)


**Premise : Sekhmet**

Cairo 1901, the day the world went dark.

The office of Lord Salisbury looked as if no one had ever set foot inside it for many years, the dust covered documents scattered about the desk gave the air of someone who looked like they had dropped everything for some unknown urgent cause. The dust how ever came from a sandstorm one which had blown out of its way down the river and smothered the city disguising even the great pyramids and covering their watchful eye. Lord Salisbury may say that it was due to the gods inability to see that lost him his child. He and his wife had but one daughter and after her disappearance couldn't bare to have more they felt like they left their lives behind in Egypt along with their , probably now, dead daughter. As an archaeologist Lord Salisbury had a tendency to dig things up by he found himself only looking in to one trench, only polishing the artifacts he found from that one trench. The rest of his work suffered, his mind preoccupied somewhere along the horizon hoping to see her and then hold her to never let go. His wife tried to help him move forward, she tended to loose herself in the clouds hoping that her daughter, if she wasn't with them, was somewhere up there in the clouds.

He kept his head down and she kept her head up and for the fleeting moments of when they met each others eyes, they smiled. The pain that they shared helped them move forward and that is how they survived and moved on.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, their loss was another's gain.

Not far from the excavation site of Lord Salisbury was the village of Mit Rahinah the previous worker site for the Pyramids of Giza where unlike many villages they had no problems with vagrants. One day the traveler would arrive and the next he would have disappeared, no one questioned this, why should they, it was in their own interests to see them gone. This changed when children went missing, they blamed the gods and the priests who had deserted them. Little did the people know that those who had left them hadn't run far. Ten miles away,up the Nile lay the territory of the Atum situated in the catacombs of the pyramids of Giza, the all knowing, all encompassing and aiming to become the all powerful. The members included priests devoted to the old religion, men supposedly born of the noble blood of King Ramses II and all of those under them. They despised the British occupation and wished for the intruders to be struck down by their gods. They tried everything from mass prayers to mass sacrifice but nothing seemed to work.

Unbeknown to the Salisbury family their daughter was kept only two miles away from the excavation site. Being only 10 Aliena had no idea of the danger she was in and the fear that she should be feeling. She was led into a large underground banqueting hall where there featured a table which looked like it was made of solid gold. On the golden table there lay items of wonder, golden fruit, dates, pears and even apples. The entire room however was covered with a layer of dust dulling the original shine and majesty which the room must have once held. The lanterns around the room didn't stir with the usual breeze that ran through the excavated temples, the men sitting around the table resembled that of the living dead still and silent but what seemed to separate them from the abyss were their eyes. They stared at her with piercing brown irises burrowing fear into her mind and no language barriers stopped the feeling of hatred that they felt towards her. The congregation of men then began to investigate her muttering in a language unknown to her, making silent nods and small gestures over what were vast and prodigious decisions. When the first of the silent men made a move it startled her to the point that she made a small wimper, but in the catacombs under the Ramses statue it was like she had screamed.

The men ordered her to be taken away, that she could guess, apart from the old men there were a group of around seven or so bandits who were the ones who captured her. All of them carried many weapons, or at least from the sound of the steel hitting steel it seemed that way. They all wore turbans with a mask over the lower half of their face so that only their eyes were visible but even then the scars from what must have been dangerous skirmishes and battles remained frightfully clear. These were not men to be messed with. As she was led across the compound by two of the bandits holding a shoulder each they stopped at a large statue one which she could somehow remember, like a memory in a memory. They all stopped and one of the bandits started conversation with the other, his speech sounded like a question and so the other bandit answered but one part of the answer stood out to her. The memory of a memory became clearer to her, the Alabaster sphinx. The one her father said he wanted to find and it was here. Suddenly her mood lifted she knew that her dad was the best at finding things, he was the best at hide and seek and always knew where she was, she knew now that her father will find her and save her no matter what and so she would be brave for him and wait.

She awoke but not in the room she fell asleep in , the walls were clean and painted and there were chairs and a table like her breakfast table back home, was she home? Had her father already rescued her while she was asleep? She felt a warm breeze and just like that the dream was shattered, a poor sultry hope at freedom. She had looked to see where the breeze had come from and saw through the open door out at the warm sand with its sprinkling of grass and occasional tree, further afield there were more trees surrounding a scattering of tents where she could see her captors. Suddenly her view was blocked, not by a bandit, not by her father but by a boy of around her age. He wore a white linen shirt which was dulled by sand giving it and ivory tone, his legs were covered by a pair f tatty brown trousers which reached only to his knees. But most of all her eyes were drawn to the contrasting jewelry which he wore, glimmering in the hot sun colours she had never yet seen projected themselves onto the crisp walls and created a mosaic of light. Like the jewelry ,even from her position on the ground, she could see his eyes, they seemed to change colour even as she looked at them, Orange and brown and gold orbs of wonder ,like a kaleidoscope. His tanned arms at last gave in, he walked over to the table dropped the heavy jug he was carrying keeping his eyes firmly on her as he did. The boy then quickly turned to face the wall and placed his right hand on his face only to pull it back towards the only hair on his head which was pulled into a small ponytail by a ribbon woven of golden thread. He then turned to look at her but as quick as he did he turned back only to mutter a short prayer and then he finally turned only his head, and made eye contact.

The boy took a few tentative steps towards her and he then began to sit down, slowly edging his way onto the floor approaching her in the same way one would approach a tiger or some other dangerous animal that might kill you if you got too close. His fears couldn't have been more misplaced, she was by far more scared of him than he was of her but her surprise came when he brought his head onto the floor in front of her as if to pray.

" يشرفني أن ألتقي بكم، اسمي خنسو وأنا في الأمر الخاص."

The words he said made no sense to her and his repetition didn't make it any clearer. She then slowly replied to him " I'm sorry, I don't understand", It took her all the strength she had just to talk to him and not to run away, but both his physical submission and tone of voice seemed to calm her down. She was thoroughly surprised though at what he said in response.

"I'm sorry." , Aliena caught her breath as if for fear of loosing it, he then began to speak again, " I am honored to meet you, my name is Khonsu and I am at your command."

"You can speak English!?" she said , Khonsu started to try and say words but stumbled over his own tongue, he then simply repeated his last statement. Aliena then started to ask him questions left right and center, where was she?, who is keeping her here?, what do they want with her? And why? She soon broke down into tears, she was scared and alone and felt like there was no end in sight. She then felt a cool object press against her face, she looked towards it then up the arm that held it towards Khonsu who simply said "You must drink.". The water coolly embraced her throat and cleared her systems like rainfall after a drought. " Thank you Khonsu" she said, she looked at Khonsu and he quickly turned at the call of his name and bowed in response but gratitude didn't seem like something Khonsu was used to.

Khonsu returned after a few minuets at the table and offered her a plate of figs, the fruit looked like it had been pulled apart by his nimble hands so that its juices dripped onto the plate, the smell of the food made her stomach rumble with anticipation and she quickly ate. A few second passed until she stopped realising that she had completely forgotten her manners, she turned to look at Khonsu and he looked straight back a look of hunger in his eyes, he was even hungrier that she was. Aliena offered him the plate on which half of the fig lay, he looked at her for conformation of the offering and the after she made a small nod he made a quick prayer and devoured the fig whole. "شكرا لك." he said whilst licking the plate for any leftover dregs. Aliena then turned to him and said with a questioning tone " شكرا لك.?" he then replied " Thank You.".

After a few moments of awkward silence Khonsu revealed a document from under his tunic, he then carefully unraveled it and started to read,

" The cooncel oof Atum haave foond you sueetebeel to -" Aliena held her hand out and gestured for him to give her the paper so she could read it herself since it seemed to be in English. The letter was written with what seemed to be a quill on dried animal skin and the scrawly handwriting made the letter seem even more eligible despite its confusing content.

" The council of the Atum have found you to be a suitable Piece and will be processed along with your aid,on the the day of offerings to the goddess Sekhmet. This is your destiny under the eye of the all seeing Ra, this is what you were meant for and this is who you are, whoever you were before has gone, you are now the Piece we have been looking for. Escape is a foolish idea because all that makes you , you is here. The council have also taken extra precautions with your staying exactly where you should be in order to protect you from the lies of the outside world. These precautions also have weapons in order to keep you safe so the council advises you to remain in the area for your own protection in case something unfortunate, for the both of us, happens.

Praise to the almighty Atum "

She was trapped.

Khonsu looked at her with a face which much mirrored her own, Aliena knew that even though he seemed to be part of this "council" he wasn't a bad person and he seemed just as trapped as she was. It was only then that she chanced at the open door, curling her fingers around the door frame she pulled herself out of the small house and into the sunlight letting it wash over her like it was the first breath of fresh air she had had in months. Khonsu moved past her out of the door frame and beckoned for her to follow him , she followed but remained on her guard. He ran over to a well and started to pull the bucket out from its depths, he seemed to struggle with the weight of the bucket so she pulled up the sleeves of her dress and started to pull with him. When the bucket was at the top of the well Khonsu turned to her and signaled that he was going to get the bucket so she knew she would have to hold on. Khonsu let go and she took the weight, he quickly grabbed the bucket and lowered it onto the side, she let go of the rope and went to join him. He had already started drinking from the bucket and as she approached he caught her in the corner of his eye, quickly stopped and offered the water to her. She accepted thanking him in Arabic and he in turn thanking her in English, Khonsu then gestured her to follow him across the field towards the tents she had seen before. She stopped and showed that she was unsure through her body language, he then took her hand and dragged her with him.

They arrived at the tents huffing and puffing from the run she then saw the state of her dress, dirty tattered edges of expensive fabric lay across her feet, when she looked up she found that Khonsu had gone, vanished like a dream, he then quickly reappeared from behind one of the many embroidered silk wall hangings which made up the large tent. As she looked around she saw many golden artifacts scattered around and in the center of the tent there was a... her father told her about these, it began with an al... an alt- alter. An alter stood in the center of the tent surrounded by incense sticks and idols there was a statue almost as big as her of a woman, like the ones in the paintings on the walls of the great pyramids. The woman had a lioness head but a humans body, the idea baffled her, how could someone be both a lion and a human," Sekhmet" the answer came from Khonsu, "Sekhmet?" she repeated the name seemed to ring a bell but she wasn't sure which. The statue though seemed to have a sort of allure it intrigued her some strange instinct told her to touch it, another bowed at its power and Majesty. In the end she dropped to her knees and simply closed her eyes.

Some time later she felt something soft being placed onto her knees, she felt it with her hand before opening her eyes only to feel cotton and leather. She tentatively opened her eyes to see a set of clothes sitting on her lap, It was then that she realised the significance of this transition, like the letter had said, she wasn't going to leave this place soon so she would just have to accept it. She slowly got up and then took herself and the clothes into another area of the tent, she began to change swapping her silk dress with all of its under dresses and heavy fabrics for a thin, light but still soft plain white dress with a brown cord belt. To switch from her leather brogues to tan lace up sandals that went up to the bottom of her knees, it was a definitive transformation from her British life which she treasured to the Egyptian one she would just have to accept.

Much time had been and gone, in the past she would count the days of how long she had been there but she stopped a long time ago. Her Arabic and Khonsu's English had improved to the point where they could now have a normal conversation using both languages to express themselves, since they only saw each other being able to communicate was


End file.
